


Outside

by RabbitKing (DJBunn3)



Category: Free!
Genre: Day 7 - A New Sight, M/M, POV Mikoshiba Seijuurou, POV Second Person, Rinharu Week 2016, basically just s1 plot in Seijuurou's eyes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-13
Updated: 2016-08-13
Packaged: 2018-08-08 10:58:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7755061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DJBunn3/pseuds/RabbitKing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Matsuoka… hides his feelings. From everyone. Replacing anything that might count as emotion with a hard, angry mask that seems to be unbreakable.<br/>You know this better than anyone, being his coach.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Outside

Matsuoka… hides his feelings. From everyone. Replacing anything that might count as emotion with a hard, angry mask that seems to be unbreakable.  
You know this better than anyone, being his coach.  
He’s like an angry ball of instability, and frankly, it scares you. You don’t know much about him-- you’ve met his sister, sure, but at the time you were a little preoccupied, so you didn’t get much info out of that experience-- but you figure from all the glaring and the general hateful aura he gives off that he’s going through something, because this _has_ to be more than just teen angst.  
A fact surfaces in your mind as you watch him swim. Matsuoka went to Australia for a few years, right? Is that part of the problem? It’s possible that he’s just homesick, despite the fact that Japan _is_ his home. Or maybe it stems from something that happened before that, you think. He trains so hard, and _all the time_ , and he’s so competitive. He’s so set on winning…  
It’s like an obsession.  
And maybe it has something to do with those Iwatobi High School guys, because whenever they come around, (or break in, as he’s been told,) Matsuoka goes at it twice as hard and never once looks in their direction. You’ve been told that they used to be friends, but something changed soon after he left and now they’re in some sort of love-hate relationship.  
Maybe something happened between them more recently, too, because his times start to go up and his mood gets worse and worse every day. In the course of a few weeks he’s gone from one of Samezuka’s fastest swimmers to one of their slowest, at least compared to the rest of his grade.  
You’re forced to pull him out of the relay, and god, is he _furious_.  
Time passes, and soon enough you’re escorting your team to regionals. The Iwatobi guys are there, too, you notice, and losing badly. Their butterfly swimmer’s goggles slide down his face, and you feel so bad for them you stop cheering on your own team, because at this point there’s no way they’ll beat you.  
As expected, Matsuoka does pretty terribly in his race. He struggles to pull himself out of the pool, and despite hating his attitude and wanting to punch him in the face every time he opens his mouth, your heart kind of breaks for the guy.  
There’s a flash of color in your peripheral vision, and then Iwatobi’s captain is chasing after their freestyle swimmer, Nanase, and you can’t decide if they’re fools or heroes for chasing after him. The relay is about to start-- some of your guys are getting ready in the locker rooms right now-- but those idiots are chasing after their angry sad love-hate ex friend, who just happens to be fleeing the scene.  
You see Nitori go after him as well.  
Time is ticking, and you find yourself hoping that they make it, because those guys have kind of become friendly competition and you don’t want them to waste what could be their last chance. Finally, just as the relay’s about to start, Nanase and the others come running in along with shark boy himself.  
They make it on time. And it’s no surprise to you when they win, because you can practically see the new energy generating from Matsuoka as he dives in after the little blonde one. It looks like he’s caught his second wind, or got his mojo back or whatever, because he flies through the water faster than you’ve ever seen him go.  
After the event’s over, you meet with your team for the celebration of their wins and pep talks for their losses. And suddenly, Matsuoka’s there, apologizing to you most sincerely (although you have no doubt he’d do it again in a heartbeat). He seems new-- he’s not angry anymore, which sort of surprises you and sort of doesn’t, because you saw the smile on his face after the relay and _god_ , you hope he can always be that happy. You’re not even that mad at him for swimming with their opponents, because he’ll be here next year and he’ll win the relay for them.  
And Iwatobi will be right there by his side.

**Author's Note:**

> Writing eight good fics in eight days is harder than it looks and I came into this battle unprepared.  
> On the bright side, I'm actually somewhat happy with this one so I hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
